OTTI 19 OriginTea "Event of the Season!"

Fabien wrote:As all the teas we had in the OTTI exhibited very sharp and clear cut, is it becoming the rule for high-end teas in Taiwan to be plucked by hand with razor blades on fingers?

Razor blades has been the rule for quite a long while. They fix the razor blades on each of their forefingers on the dorsal side. The cut on the stems though is only one indicator in determining whether a tea is machine or handpicked.

Fabien wrote: I've seen more and more chinese producers doing so but a significant number of them, especially those dealing with high-end greens, continue to pick by hand without using razor blades.

That gets very painful, without razor blades.

Fabien wrote: Is it different in Taiwan? Is it different depending on the type and quality of teas? I'm interested in these different points of view.

AFAIK, high end teas are handpicked with razors just the same over here.

As far as machine picking goes, it's fast catching up to hand-picking with all the new equipment they've developed for post-processing machine-picked leaves. A major problem with hand picking is speed, when the prime picking time is only 3 hours longs at around noon.

saxon75 wrote:I tried my remaining three teas over the weekend: the Hua Gang, the DYL 95K, and the DYL 102K. All three were very nice.

I found the Hua Gang to have some pineapple notes, and a hint of smoke in the finish. In subsequent steeps it developed a bit of burnt sugar in the aroma. Nice huigan.

The DYL 102K was pretty amazing, but hard for me to pin down. It had a very complex flavor and aroma, where I could tell there was a lot going on but I couldn't pick out anything particular that I could put a description to. But the finish was very nice, and the liquor had a pleasant thickness to it that I really enjoyed. This is perhaps one of the best teas I've ever had.

Sadly, I accidentally did the 102K and the 95K in the wrong order--I had intended to drink the 95K first but got the bags mixed up, and I think that the 95K suffered a bit in comparison to the 102K. It was still very nice, but after just having had my socks knocked off by the 102K it didn't quite measure up. The things I wrote in my notes as being particularly noteworthy were a nice huigan and a pleasant texture and body.

rest of packet (did not measure) into Petr Novak unglazed shiboridashi (100mL)--doesn't look like much leaf, so starting with a longer-than-my-usual 1st infusion

water 200-210 degrees

60 seconds

Light, sweet, milky, caramel, floral--could have infused longer due to limited leaf, but still very pleasant

90 seconds

A hint of astringency, still milky/caramel, summer hay, lighter on the floral, but light, not as dense/rich a mouthfeel as some of the others. Though it didn't look like much leaf at first, that little bit did expand to pretty much fill the shibo

3 min

hay/caramel, lightly floral, a delicate but tasty tea

6 min--caramel, hay, grassy, still very light-bodied and delicate

one more very long infusion--still nice, hay, caramel, touch of floral, nice

Finally, I am at my highest point of more than 2400m with the 2013 SPRING DA YU LING.

Upon opening the packet I am intoxicated by the sweet candy caramel note that I so love in a quality high mountain tea. When the dry nuggets are hit with the off-boiling water, the aroma speaks volumes: this tea is ready to impress!

The liquor is light yellow with a wonderful fragrance. The taste is thick, rich and deep with a nice balance; no single note shouts out. This tea is very warming and the linger is long and full.

Of the five teas in this series, this Da Yu Ling is my favorite. It was worth the climb to above 2400m and it is everything that a very high mountain tea might be.

Thank you, Tea Chat Team, for offering me such a fine set of high mountain teas and for sharing this wonderful Da Yu Ling with me!

I'm glad I waited to try the Da Yu Ling 95K (DYL) and Fushoushan, Lishan (FSS) last, as they really provided a stunning end to this set of samples. They also seemed quite diverse to me. While the DYL was deeply flavorful, thickly sweet, and honey-floral aromas with strong fragrance, the FSS was subtly flavorful, with more mineral and herbaceous qualities, and a simple, buttery aroma. Both were balanced and smooth texturally, although perhaps the DYL was far more buttery, reminding me strongly of the Shan Lin Xi of this OTTI.

Yet, the most striking difference was what occurred post-swallow. The FSS won in the huigan and afterfeel/taste departments. I also thought it had some of the most advanced physiological effects of the bunch, although the DYL had strong effects as well, making me quite energized. The FSS was also one of the longest-lasting teas across steeps in this round, probably closest to the Hua Gang, Lishan in the number of steeps I went through.

Of these two, I thought the FSS provided the most interesting experience, with a unique development across steeps. However, I felt the DYL was more balanced across all its qualities, and with the more powerful flavor and aroma in addition to its average intensity textures and aftertaste, made it the more pleasing tea. It was probably my favorite of the five.

I also recently had another go at the Cui Luan. Since all my first rounds were with around 6-7g/100mL gaiwan, I used the remaining 4ish grams and simply upped the steeping time for each steep. I seem to have gotten a great deal more from the leaves this way, surprisingly. The tartness I noticed before faded significantly, huigan improved exponentially from what I remembered, and there was a strongly sweet and cool aftertaste with mouthwatering effects. Of course, I only really received 2-3 full-bodied infusions, after which mostly only vegetal tea-water remained. Still, a nice session.

as usual 10gm/200ml flash rinse + rest .. pouring away the rinse raised a cloud of mmmmMMMMMmmmm ..... i didnt 'think' a long rest but the leaves totally filled the pot already at first steep

this is a Smooth Criminal of Gaoshan, and the second of this group where i get a 'feeling' of the cook/processor ..

its also got legs, perhaps longer than the Hua Gang: i wanted steep 7 to be long-ish but I nodded off: a dreadful insult that this DYL ignored totally, no bitterness whatsoever when mixed with steep 8 and its still got legs ..

EDIT/summary

shan ling xi = this i was already attracted to and fascinated byfushoushan = give me moredayuling = now im starting to see what the fuss is abouthua gang = slow to start but its got nice legscui luan = in this company, for me, a bit meh; like the roast tho

Last edited by etorix on Jul 28th, '13, 01:45, edited 2 times in total.

I enjoyed a relaxed session with the Lishan: Hua Gang today, not measuring or taking notes, but noted strong spicy notes even in the first infusion, a body between the Fushoushan and the Cui Lan, floral and caramel notes throughout, and it was quite nice.

Still don't know which one of these I like best--there will need to be a few more sessions with the last of the remaining samples--but I'm getting excited to make an order soon, and I know one tea will be the Cui Lan, for it's amazing cool brew wonderfulness, but which to enjoy hot is trickier.

The aroma is quite floral. I did fall in love with Taiwanese teas because of their aroma. Slight astringecy. Great body that swims across the tongue. Later and longer infusions give off a wonder fruity flavor.

I have a confession to make: I started a session with some of the Da Yu Ling a day or two ago--honestly, I don't remember if it was 2 or 3 evenings back--and I just drank 2 infusions before I ended up calling it a night. The DYL was too nice to just toss away, so I left the leaves in my Seong-il green oolong pot, unrefrigerated, thinking I'd start with them the next morning. I forgot them. And this morning, I noticed the pot on the tea tray, added hot water, and was rewarded with the most fragrant wonderful tea. It's gorgeous.

Ok, the previous splendid session was not an artifact of leaves fermenting between infusion sessions: I brewed up again in my Seong-il pot (this one, porcelain with an unglazed interior), and can only conclude that this pot and this tea were made for each other.

I have now tried all of the oolongs, both in my gaiwan and the second round in my hong ni yixing pot. I liked the slightly more oxidized oolongs better in the yixing, but enjoyed all of them in the pot. I'm currently swooning over the scent of the 95K Da Yu Ling. This was my favorite of the bunch.

I've been out for a month and just recently got back, so I'm just finally getting around to trying these teas. I'm trying them at work where I have a large gaiwan that really takes up the whole sample.

In any case, today I was trying the third sample that I picked, the dayuling, and I was so floored by the power (and longevity) of this tea, that I had to check the forum here to see if I was in the minority. I'm glad to see that I am not.